1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an electrical junction box which includes a body case of the electrical junction box that has an opening part facing electrical components, and a cover that covers the opening part and is engaged to the body case of the electrical junction box, and particularly to an electrical junction box which further includes a case side locking part and a cover side locking part with which the cover is engaged to or disengaged from the body case of the electrical junction box.
2. Background Art
Electrical apparatuses installed in a vehicle such as an automobile include, for example, an electrical junction box. The electrical junction box is known as a general term that refers to a relay box, a fuse box, a junction block or an electronic control unit box. Related art about the electrical junction box is disclosed in JP-A-2012-182965. The constitution of the electrical junction box is briefly described as follows.
The electrical junction box is installed in, for example, the engine room of an automobile. The electrical junction box includes an electrical junction box body as its functional portion and a cover. The electrical junction box body is a resin housing of the electrical junction box and has a body case of the electrical junction box. On the other hand, the cover is included to cover an opening part of the body case of the electrical junction box. Electrical components are mounted to positions facing the opening part of the body case of the electrical junction box. The electrical components become prevented from water in a state where the cover is engaged to the opening part of the body case to cover the opening part.
To make the cover and the body case of the electrical junction box engaged, the cover is formed with a cover side locking part. Further, the body case of the electrical junction box is formed with a case side locking part. A plurality of the cover side locking parts and the case side locking parts may be formed as needed. The cover side locking parts are formed into, for example, a cantilever arm shape having flexibility. The case side locking parts are formed as frame-formed portions having a substantially U-shaped cross section so that the cover side locking parts are hooked and engaged when the cover side locking parts return to the original positions after be flexed.
Regarding the engagement of the cover by an operator, when the cover is moved down from directly above the opening part of the body case of the electrical junction box, the cover side locking parts are hooked with the case side locking parts.
Thereby, the cover is engaged to the body case of the electrical junction box while covering the opening part. Regarding the disengagement of the cover by the operator, the cover side locking parts are flexed to be unlocked from the case side locking parts.
When the cover is removed by being disengaged from the body case of the electrical junction box, the operator can perform maintenance for the electrical junction box body.
In the related art, because the direction in which the cover is engaged to or disengaged from the body case of the electrical junction box is an upward/downward direction, there is a problem which is that it is very difficult to perform maintenance-related operations when there is no space above the electrical junction box.
The present invention is made in view of the above situation, and the object of the present invention is to provide an electrical junction box which makes it possible to improve maintenance-related operativity.